Shentel Makes Transformation Look Easy
By Sara Winegardner
The first employees of what would become Shentel could hardly imagine the products that would be offered by what was once Farmers Mutual Telephone System. Founded in 1902, its goal was a simple, but challenging one: to deliver telephone service to the rural homes that still lacked access.
More than 100 years later, the mission behind the products is not so different, even as the company has undergone more than a few evolutions. There were the days when Shentel was predominately a wireless company, serving as a Sprint affiliate from 1995-2021 and touting more than one million mobile subscribers. It shifted into a cable company during that time, offering video, phone and broadband. And now, under Glo Fiber, the company is embracing fiber as a tool to deliver future-proof connectivity to the communities that have long been left behind.
“We had this extensive middle mile fiber network and we used that fiber network to build out and to connect our cell sites to provide backhaul service. We built that market to connect our cable markets together, and then we were using that for our commercial fiber customers as well,” COO Ed McKay says. “We looked at that, saw that we had the opportunity to leverage that network, leverage our expertise building and operating networks to pursue this new greenfield, new fiber strategy that we called Glo Fiber.”
The goal from the start has been to provide these communities with the fastest speeds on the most reliable network with fair, straight forward pricing. Glo Fiber launched in its first market, Harrisonburg, Virginia, in the fourth quarter of 2019, and it has all been up from there. A key to ensuring the new product’s success, however, was hiring the right team members and elevating others. SVP, Engineering and Operations Rick Mason was one of those new additions, being hired in May 2019 as VP and Head of Business Operations.
“It was a great opportunity to help the team and start prep again and say ’OK, how are we going to select these markets? How should we operate them? How should we build them?’” Mason says. “It was really neat to put together a business case and a multi-year plan that, frankly, we’ve been able to stick to from the build side, which has been very helpful as we’ve gone through the years.” One of the decisions made in 2019 that he continues to be proud of was embracing XGS-PON, calling the technology a great foundation for the Glo Fiber network now and long into the future.
A typical market touts approximately 10,000 homes passed and some of the larger markets Glo Fiber has built to measure at about 50,000 homes passed. Shentel now passes more than 275,000 homes and businesses with the product, with Glo Fiber an option in 25 different markets across five states.
Even as Shentel has shifted in its product lines or operational focus, one of its constants has been its dedication to providing outstanding local customer service. That, along with the virtues of fiber and the clarity around pricing, are three pillars upon which Glo Fiber’s marketing strategy has been built. But there’s a true buy-in from the staff in the Glo Fiber vision and mission that has left an impact far larger than any one advertising campaign. The pillars have shaped the brand’s culture and identity internally as well as externally, and customers are connecting with it as well. It was a great day when SVP, Sales and Marketing Dara Leslie received the results of a Glo Fiber 2024 customer survey that placed the brand’s Net Promoter Score at a 69.
“It speaks to the quality of service that we deliver and we provide, and not only do our customers love it, but that results in our employees getting excited about that too because they see the congruency,” she says. “The brand has been something that we are living every day.”
Beyond the buildouts, Glo Fiber has continued to raise the bar when it comes to the symmetrical speeds it offers to customers. In April 2023, Glo Fiber launched 5 Gig plans across all of its markets, differentiating itself competitively and ultimately preparing for the time when those speeds are needed by more households with ever-growing numbers of devices. SVP/CFO Jim Volk says 50% of Glo Fiber’s gross ads are subscribing to the company’s 1 Gig plans or its higher tiers, and it does currently have some customers taking its 5 Gig symmetrical service offering.
“That has put a little bit of a lift on ARPU, and we’re kind of overachieving on the ARPU side,” Volk says. “With the higher ARPU, we can still get to the same returns even if the cost to pass goes up. We can now justify going out into more suburban parts of Harrisonburg, as an example, so it has opened up some additional markets for us as well.”
There’s a palpable excitement in the air when you talk about Glo Fiber with the folks touching the brand every day, and the future is nothing but bright. Shentel completed its acquisition of commercial fiber provider Horizon Telcom in April, and Volk says it has become a beach head for more Glo Fiber markets in Ohio and beyond. Additionally, the purchase allowed Glo Fiber to double the size of its commercial business. But what set Horizon apart from other M&A opportunities was its history, one that very much mimics Shentel’s story.
“We have similar roots, both started out as local telephone companies over 120 years ago. We’ve had a track record of investing in state of-the-art telecommunications services for rural markets, smaller cities, smaller towns and our fiber expansion strategy has been similar as well,” McKay says. “The other area we had in common, both companies have a history of focusing on providing outstanding local customer service.” Glo Fiber now has more than 15,600 route miles of fiber with a network that stretches across nine states, and it is able to connect customers to data centers in major cities like Chicago and Washington, D.C. Feedback from commercial customers thus far has been very positive, McKay reports.
Horizon markets have already been re branded to Glo Fiber and the company expects to have most of the system integration work completed by the first quarter of 2025. Leslie’s team engaged with Horizon customers via email, direct mail and more to make them feel as comfortable with the change as possible and to educate them on Glo Fiber. They also haven’t been shy about trying to draw in new customers, spending money on TV and radio ads that would ensure the brand’s first impression was as strong as possible.
“We’ve done really well with introducing the brand in a loud but gentle way that enables customers to inquire and be curious,” she says. “We’ve created destinations with the website, etc. for both customers and new customers to understand that brand transition.”
At the end of the day, Glo Fiber employees measure their success by the level of impact they are making in the communities they serve. “In many cases, we’re bringing broadband choice to the community for the first time. In other cases, we’re building out to unserved areas and bringing true broadband to the community for the first time. That’s pretty exciting to me along with some of the business services that we’re providing as well,” McKay says. “There’s definitely a positive impact on the communities and that’s re ally what excites us, having the connections to our communities and making a difference there.”